The present invention relates to tools for heavy duty equipment such as backhoes or excavators, particularly to an improved bucket assembly for such equipment, and more particularly to a bucket assembly having a grapple like tine assembly mounted thereto and wherein the bucket assembly is mounted to an equipment boom via a double pin mounting structure and a single hydraulic actuator/linkage assembly.
Tools of various types are removably mounted on various types of heavy equipment utilized in construction, logging operations, demolition and other industrial fields. The tools are removably mounted on booms which are mounted on the equipment, generally of a wheeled or endless track type. The removable tools involved include buckets, grapples, earth compactors, hydraulic hammers, etc., and the equipment on which they are mounted employs a main boom pivotably mounted thereto with a dipper stick mounted on the end of a main boom to which the tool is removably attached. U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,604 issued Nov. 2, 1999 to R.H. Wolin et al describes and illustrates a grapple with a universal attachment mechanism which includes a double pin mounting structure.
The present invention constitutes an improvement over the grapple of the above referenced Patent No. 5,975,604 which comprises a bucket assembly having a grapple-like tine assembly mounted thereto and controlled by one or more pair of hydraulic actuators. The improved tool of the present invention is adapted to be mounted to a boom or dipper-stick of a piece of equipment or machine such as a backhoe or excavator, via a double pin mounting structure and a single actuator/linkage arrangement. The single actuator/linkage arrangement enables wider movement or swing of the tool than equipment utilizing dual actuator and/or linkage arrangements. The grapple-type tine assembly is constructed and mounted to the bucket assembly via a bell crank free floating about its axis which enables greater movement or opening of the tine assembly relative to the bucket assembly.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved removably mounted tool for equipment.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved bucket assembly for removably mounting to equipment.
A further object of the invention is to provide a bucket assembly in combination with a grapple-like tine assembly.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bucket assembly removably mounted to a boom or dipper stick of a piece of equipment via a single actuator/linkage assembly to enable wider movement or rotation of the bucket.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bucket/tine assembly wherein the tine assembly is mounted to the bucket so as to enable near full extended movement relative to the bucket.
Another object of the invention is to provide a bucket/tine assembly which may be controlled by one or two pairs of hydraulic actuators, each pair of actuators being mounted via a free floating bell crank which is free floating about its axis.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bucket/grapple removably mounted to a boom or dipper stick of a piece of equipment via a single actuator/linkage assembly to enable wider movement or rotation of the bucket while having a continuous constant grasping force throughout the bucket rotation, which provides control and safety of material handling while providing increased movement of the bucket and grapple of the assembly.
Another object of the invention is to provide a bucket/grapple assembly removably mounted to a boom or dipper stick via a single actuator/linkage assembly to enable the bucket/grapple to perform grasping of material over a greater distance from the equipment on which the assembly is mounted.
Another object of the invention is to provide the equipment operator with fewer controls to operate the bucket/grapple assembly in that the grasping force of the assembly is activated by a common hydraulic circuit which is entirely independent of the single actuator/linkage assembly which changes the bucket rotation position relative to the dipper stick mounted on a boom of the equipment.
Another object of the invention is to provide the piece of equipment on which the bucket/grapple assembly is mounted with means to enable the bucket/grapple assembly to be dismounted from the dipper stick or boom by removal of two pins in a mounting structure.
Another object of the invention is to provide grapple movement in relation to the bucket so as to have the ability to open and close the same relationship in all positions of the bucket regardless of the bucket position in relation to the dipper stick or boom except when the bucket is nearly closed against the dipper stick or boom.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings. The present invention is directed to an improved bucket assembly adapted to be removably mounted to a piece of equipment. The improved bucket assembly comprises a bucket in combination with a grapple-like tine assembly. The bucket assembly is constructed to be removably coupled to the equipment by a double pin mounting structure and by a single assembly composed of a hydraulic actuator and coupling or linkage members which enable a wider movement or rotation of the bucket assembly. The grapple-like tine assembly is movably mounted to the bucket via at least one bell crank which is free floating about its access and is controlled by at least one pair of hydraulic actuators. The tine assembly is mounted to the bucket to enable full closure and near full opening relative to the bucket.